I have been thinking a great deal lately about the reasons why totalitarianism represents such a temptation for some who have access to extensive knowledge about the American electorate.
And I have been returning again and again to my recollection of the fairy tale, "The Fisherman and His Wife." To refresh everyone's memory, the poor fisherman of this story catches a magic flounder who grants him three wishes if the fisherman will only return him to freedom.
At first, the kindly fisherman simply lets the fish go free, without asking for anything in return.
But (and here we must overlook the clear gender biases present within The Brothers Grimm in 1812) the fisherman's wife goads him into asking first to be a homeowner of a lovely estate, then to be king of an expansive kingdom, and finally, to "command the sun, the moon and the heavens, as an equal to God." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fisherman_and_His_Wife
The underpinnings of autocracy are materialistic in nature. A significant number of participants in the scheme want to be the owner of a lovely estate or the king of an expansive kingdom, or even, to command the sun, the moon and the heavens.
Some people possess the will to power, in other words, and the means to that usurpation of others' sovereignty do not inspire pangs of conscience for them.
But let's pause for a minute to consider the magic fish, even if the fisherman doesn't! The fish is not just any species. He is a flounder, a fish who lives, apparently, at the lowest level.
The fisherman commands him with the presumed threat of catching him once more on his hook if the flounder does not comply.
The flounder simply wants his freedom, which is his due, and it constitutes a moral wrong that he should have to bargain for it.
Ultimately, the fisherman wants to rule not only over the question of the flounder's life or death, but the life and death of everyone, as God does. He wants to wield the most power, to have the most riches, to exert the most control over the earth and the stars -- to have no Higher Authority to which to answer or explain or be accountable.
And yet, the flounder is a magic flounder -- and not so compliant as he first appears. It is the flounder who roils the seas and darkens the skies in response to the fisherman's avarice. The flounder may not be God Himself, but he certainly appears to have earned God's favor!
The flounder deserves his freedom without being tortured for the privilege.
So do the American people.
The fisherman wants to rule as God rules, without a vote, without consensus, without question.
So does the far right.
It is the fisherman's fundamental spiritual offense which unmakes his plans. In failing to respect the lowly flounder, he has failed to acknowledge the sovereignty of the ocean's creatures, on which he depends.
Haven't far right FBI personnel also failed to acknowledge the sovereignty of the American people, on which they depend?
The vast majority of Americans still embrace the Constitution as an inspired document guiding us toward a government of the people, by the people and for the people..
If a few individuals within the FBI and its affiliates have forgotten that the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution still pertain to the American electorate in its entirety, perhaps they can be thoughtfully, insistently, lawfully reminded.
Thank you to OIG Hotline investigators for their ongoing presence as I attempt to give voice to the magic fish.
His sovereign rights cannot be stolen from him.
Neither can ours.
Lane MacWilliams
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The FBI is a deeply divided agency. There are many FBI employees who view their vows to the Constitution with the utmost seriousness and honors nd who strive to defend the fundamentals of our democracy with courage, fortitude and commitment. The fact that some segments of the FBI appear to have embraced a lawless course is not a justification to assail the FBI in general. As President Joseph R. Biden has so rightly expressed, violence is never justified in any circumstance. The rule of law must always be honored and upheld. It is our shared determination to preserve the civil liberties and human rights of all Americans that renders the United States a democracy. We must never abandon this promise. All of our most cherished freedoms depend upon it.
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